Visegrad leaders disagree on causes of Russia-Georgia war

The presidents of four Central European states, including the Czech Republic, failed to agree upon a position on the recent Russian-Georgian conflict at a meeting in Slovakia this weekend. Czech President Václav Klaus said after the meeting of the so-called Visegrad four (Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic) that “we don’t have exactly the same opinions on the causes of the Georgian conflict, but we agree when discussing further steps”. Mr Klaus recently spoke out against Georgia’s role in the conflict, saying Tbilisi carried full responsibility for the war. Polish President Lech Kaczynski has previously condemned Russia’s role in the crisis. At Saturday’s meeting the four leaders did, however, agree that Kosovar independence had influenced last month’s war, and unanimously offered economic aid to the Caucuses region.